Young Love For An Army Girlfriend

Hey everyone! I'm Audrey. I am almost 16 years old and I live in Tennessee. I am currently dating Pvt. Ricardo. He is in basic training, but almost finished. He graduated from Ft. Benning, Georgia two days ago but he's still there on staff duty. He will leave from there in a couple of weeks to go to his station for the first time in Colorado which I am a little nervous about. From there he will go to either Afghanistan or South Africa (he might be deployed next month). We have OFFICIALLY been dating since January 1st, 2013. So we haven't even been dating one month yet, but we've had feelings for each other for almost a year now. I met Ricardo through my best friend on Facebook. I messaged him because I thought he was cute and she had told me he was really cool. So I did and we talked here and there but nothing serious (all this happened in February of 2012). By the time May rolled around we had become really close, at the time he lived about 15 minutes away from me but we still hadn't met. He was my best friend and I told him everything. Yeah we flirted and had pet names for each other but neither of us were serious about each other. In June we told each other we did have feelings for each other so we started talking... and everything was great and I was so happy, we Skyped all the time but still hadn't met. But we argued a lot over petty stuff. We would both say stuff that would make each other mad. And one night we both had enough so we called it off and didn't talk until mid August. At that point we were back to being friends, but it was kinda awkward. So we talked some.. Skyped a few times and when September rolled around he was leaving for basic. I was sad that I wouldn't be able to talk to him but it wasn't a huge deal to me. So he called me a few times when he was gone whenever he had the chance. His phone calls always put me in a better mood, no matter what I was doing, where I was, or who I was with I answered his call in a heartbeat. It was sooo good hearing his voice. But between September and November we only got to talk about 5 times max. Ricardo came home for a weekend in November to celebrate Thanksgiving. We never did get to Skype but we did text and talk on the phone. When he left I didn't hear from him again til December 5th. He messaged me on Facebook and told me he'd be coming to Wimpy's (a restaurant that I worked at) and would meet me. I was SOOOOO excited, him being gone made me realize how much I missed him and wanted to meet him FOR THE FIRST TIME. He had to go and that was the last time I talked to him until December 20th, he again messaged me on Facebook and the only thing he said was I love you. He then told me he'd be in town in the next few days and he'd be coming to Wimpy's. I was ecstatic that I'd be getting to meet him in a few short days. After that we started texting a lot and Skyping all leading up to us meeting. Two days later we finally met. We hugged and we were both nervous.. he looked good in uniform though haha. So I waited on him (I was his waitress) and we awkwardly talked. I couldn't get his stupid smile off my face but when I saw him my feelings changed for him.. I felt something I had never felt before. I loved him. A LOT. We started "talking" and soon after I fell in love with him. He was the one for me. We talked 24/7 and Skyped every night for hours til we both fell asleep. But something was holding me back.. I had a crush on this guy I had just met. And I didn't wanna give up on this other guy, so I thought "What if..." so I told Ricardo. He got mad and we had a huge argument that ended with us calling off everything and saying our goodbyes forever. I honestly felt like a piece of my heart was gone.. so I tried to replace it with this other guy. We hung out on New Years Eve, it started off as a disaster but couldn't have ended more perfectly. The guy I met, we'll call him D, was not my type at all. He was pretty chubby, really shy, and didn't get along with my family/friends that night. I just wasn't feelin' it. Before all that I didn't talk to Ricardo since December 28th. Thats when the fight happened. After that I was so depressed and I thought about him constantly.. but I never texted him. He even put up a status on Facebook saying "Text me." Little did I know at that time that it was intended for me. Anyways going back to the 31st... it was about 9 and I couldn't wait for 12:30 because thats when D left. But at 9 everything changed, I got a text from Ricardo. He asked me, "Not to sound like a **** or anything, but did you get that boyfriend yet? Just curious." I was so happy that he text me. I text him back saying no that I turned him down. I told him the feelings I had for him the past few days before that when I wasn't able to talk to him.. he told me his feelings too. I realized at that moment that Ricardo was the one for me, he meant everything to me and I was still deeply in love with him. He called me a few minutes after, it was so good hearing his voice. We talked for a few minutes and at that moment made a commitment to each other. I knew that he was the one for me. So at 12 he sent me a kissy face and promised me that some day we'd do the real deal on New Years. And I told him I'd wait. And I still am. We bonded so much over the next few days and our relationship grew stronger and stronger each day. But January 4th was one of the saddest moments of my life, Ricardo was leaving again for basic. I woke up at 7 in the morning with him knowing he would be leaving at 11. I texted him til 10 when I got a call on Skype. We Skyped til the minute he left. It was a hard goodbye. And these past few weeks have been hard, but I'm so proud of him for what he's doing. I don't get to talk to him that much, but when I do it always makes me so happy. I'm in love with this man, and we have both said when the time comes we wanna get married. I know I'm only 15, but I know what love is. I can't explain it though. So here I sit in my bed at 1 in the morning pouring my story out for the world. If anyone fully reads this I hope you take something out of it, if you're in a similar situation heres a quote that I say often.
"Distance doesn’t matter if you really love the person. What matters most, is your honesty and trust for that relationship to work out."
**also he told me, "This is only the beginning."
I have to say that often as well.
Thank you so much for reading!!!

Thanks so much! That means a lot! My family was never a military family, so I'm new to everything army wise. This page really does confort me in knowing I'm not alone. I just feel that I can't talk to my friends about it because they don't understand what I'm going through. So you saying that helps out a lot.

I was 15 when I met my boyfriend too. We started kinda fast, he was leaving for basic in march of 2011 and I had just met him in January of that year. So you and I basically have the same story. I've been through it all. Actually he's deployed right now, so I guess I'm still going through it, but if you need anything I'm here

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